Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone. My 7 year old son was diagnosed with level 1 Autism. I had a feeling, but he still has some things that I consider normal, if not less likely to have Aspergers in the emotion department, if that makes any sense at all. As far as kids his own age goes, he cannot hold a conversation especially if its not a preferred topic. He can express excitment and anger, ( very well) but he also expresses like, sadness if he thinks he's in trouble by an adult. He could care less if a kid likes him, or even teases him, but god forbid an adult tells him to stop doing something he almost cries and starts stimming. Usually chews on something, or rocks (if hes able to sit down in the situation). I don't mean any offense by this at all, but this is new to me, and I feel like not much was explained. I was under the impression (again NO offense at all) that kids with Aspergers don't show much emotion? Especially with something like, shame I guess? He's obsessed with rules, and hates to see them broken by anyone, so maybe that has something to do with it? My best example is he's in Jiu Jitsu, and does fairly well despite his general awkwardness. But at times he gets overwhelmed by everything and he doesn't listen to some rules, and today he got confused and the coach told him to "please listen to the rules" and that's when he looked like he was going to cry and started stimming.
I feel like I may be comparing him too much to other kids, and his cousin who is the same age but is severely autistic. I'm just still wrapping my head around him finally being diagnosed I guess.
Thank you for anyone who listened to my rant here :)
Hi
Firstly, sorry you got some quite judgey replies - totally not what you needed. Hello with love from another parent! I think the important thing is to not let the nature of the diagnosis change the fact that a/ you are the expert on your son and b/ don't let it change how you think of him. It sometimes is helpful to know more about some of the difficulties that arise from having ASD - I personally found it very helpful to know more about the sensory processing issues - which explained a lot of behaviours! It sounds like in the situations you describe he may be overwhelmed and there may be things you can do to help him learn to deal with this - so if it is noise, try ear defenders. A visual schedule for common instructions may help and the opportunity to have some time out if its getting too much. There are misunderstandings about autism and emotions / empathy - sometimes our children can actually feel too much and it hurts them. You sound like a great parent and your son sounds great too! If there are areas in particular you want to know more about, I could suggest some reading? Take care and have a lovely day xxx
I'm really sorry if anything in my post came across as judgemental it really wasn't my intention... I just wanted to dispel some of the myths and maybe also give a little hope that we are so much more than our list of 'impairments'. I know sometimes the way I communicate can cause offense and I am truly sorry if the reference at the beginning of this post referred to my earlier post.